Day 19: Folding for fun

A Christmas craft market gives me the perfect excuse to pull out of the cupboard my one well-developed artistic ability – that of folding origami cranes. They’ll make beautiful tree decorations, and strings of them will make an excellent alternative to bunting or tinsel. So I spend a fun bit of time folding some cranes, and will continue to do so for the next couple of weeks, when in the pub, or talking on the phone.

There’s something very meditative about folding cranes, and obviously it feels very ‘connected to the East’ to do so. I like the tactile nature of it, as well as the concentration that it affords me. It’s one of those crafts that gives you as much back as you put in, and perhaps that in itself is a hallmark of Play – to feel you’re getting something out of it, rather than just putting in.

I feel calm and delighted as the shapes form, and there is equally something very playful in the multiple colours. The way that each one is different, has its little idiosyncrasies. I wonder if someone folds them hoping to produce the perfect one. That, to me, would be missing the point!

When you fold a piece of paper, you’re essentially changing the memory of that piece – Eric Demaine in Between the Folds